Not Hard Enough
by Shinji Shazaki
Summary: Argh.  Not many reviews.  Oh well.  Last chapter of this series, and it's where Tao came in in my other stories.  Read, review, and I hope you enjoy.
1. Forced Forgetting

Not Hard Enough

C1: Forced Forgetting

[Disclaimer: KP and all that good stuff belongs to Disney.  I own whatever I write/create.  Don't steal and don't sue.]

            "Hello, my beautiful little girl."

            "Dr. Psymon, are you insane?  You can't _make _a child!"

            "Obviously, I can.  I have the funds, and I have the determination.  Tao will live, and she will live long and well."

            "With a tail, claws, and natural silver hair?  How will she go to school?"

            "She won't.  I will teach her at home."

            "You?  You are no more suited to be a teacher than I am to be a lawyer!"

            "Thank you, Dr. Green, but it will be fine.  Tao will be fine."

            "We will see, Dr. Psymon."

----------

            The small orange and white dog sniffed at the small, sleeping child.  A silver tail twitched with dreams and restless energy.  A wise old cat hopped up onto the bed and lay down on the child's back.  The dog, hoping that he wouldn't do something wrong, imitated the cat and jumped onto the bed.  He curled up by the child's head and closed his little black eyes.

            Dr. Ion Psymon peeked around the edge of the door and nearly laughed at the sight of all the animals curled up by and on her daughter.  The girl had been 'born' just one year ago.  It was her birthday.  Ion crept into the room and tapped the dog on the head.  He jerked up and looked at his owner with a dog-grin.

            "OK, Einstein, off Tao." Ion said in a whisper, "And see if you can't get Solomon off Tao's back."  The dog stood up and nudged the cat with a snout.  The cat opened an eye and saw Ion standing there.  She was pointing to the ground with a smile.  The cat stood and stretched lazily, hopping off the little child onto the ground.  The dog followed suit.

            "Time to wake up, Tao-Tao." Ion said in a playful voice, sitting on the bed and picking the girl up.  A sleepy look was what she received.  Once Tao figured out who it was, she giggled and her tail started whipping around.

            "Know what today is?" Ion lifted Tao onto her shoulders, "It's your first birthday!"

            Tao didn't have much of an idea of what a birthday was, but she knew something fun was going to happen.

----------

            Three years after that, it was Tao's fourth birthday.  Ion had given her one present: a necklace with a pendant made of silver.  Tao was happy beyond belief.  She was playing with Solomon and Einstein, Ein for short, and Ion was watching contentedly.

_            Phit.  Phit._

            Ion pulled something out of her neck.  A small dart lay in her hand.  She choked and her vision blurred.  She was unconscious in moments.

----------

            Tao cried in the darkness.  She didn't like being alone.  Her tail was curled tightly around her little body, and she didn't try to wipe her tears away.

            "Be silent!" a man's voice shouted, "You are here for a reason!"

            Tao looked around, trying to see who was there.  The room was empty, save her.  Something in a corner was buzzing slightly, and that was where the voice was coming from.

            "If you want your mother to be safe, be quiet!" the voice ordered, "You will do exactly as I say, understood?"  Tao nodded, not knowing if she should talk.

            "Good.  Send him in!"

            A door opened with a swishing sound, and a burly young man walked in.  Tao stared at him in fear.

----------

            _BAM!  BAM!  BAM!  …thud._

            Ion panted, rubbing her shoulder.  A double-locked door, one lock on the outside and one on the inside, was her enemy at the moment.  It was a thick and heavy door.  Dr. Psymon felt like she'd never get through it, even with a chainsaw.  However, she had a feeling deep inside her that Tao was in danger.  She didn't like the feeling.

            Thus, Ion stood back up and charged at the door.

            _BAM!  BAM!  BAM!  BAM!_

----------

            _BAM!!_

            Tao fell to the floor, shaking.  The man walked over to her and lifted her up by the back of her shirt.  He threw her at the wall again.  The four-year-old hit it with a resounding crash before falling to the floor again.

            She hated the sensation of pain.  She hated being thrown around into walls.  She hated it all.  The man kicked Tao to her back.  He stamped on her chest hard, nearly breaking a few ribs.  Tao coughed, something red escaping her lips.

            In a slow moment, Tao realized what the red meant.  It meant hurt, and the kind that could make one howl.  In another moment, she realized one thing that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

            The man reached down and grabbed her by the neck.  A split second was all it took.  Tao's hands came up from her side and dug into the man's face with unholy speed.  A skill she never knew she had emerged abruptly and energy flowed from her clawed hands into the man.

            He screamed in agony as his blood boiled inside his burning skin.  His heart stopped, his lungs singed.  And then he exploded.

            The red covered Tao's hands and splattered onto her face.  The man no longer had a head.  His skin steamed from the extreme heat, and one of his feet twitched.  But he no longer had a head.  What had been his head was on Tao.

            Tao stared.  She was shaking in horror.  She _knew_ what she had done.

----------

            _BA-CRACK!  WHAM!_

            Ion fell onto the door as the locks finally broke.  She ignored the throb in her shoulder and just started running.  The floor beneath her dropped away suddenly, and she slid down what felt like a tube.  A blast of air shot her out of the tube into the darkness of night.

            She lay stunned for a minute or so, and then sat up.  A gleam of silver caught her eye.  The moon was reflecting off of Tao's hair.

            "Oh, Tao, I'm so glad you're all right!" Ion ran to her daughter and hugged her tight, "What happened, sweetheart?"

            "Mama…mama…"

            Ion took a look at Tao.  Her hands were covered in blood, and her face was splashed with it.

            "Oh, Tao!" Ion gasped, "What did they do to you?"

            "I hurt him." Tao whispered, "I hurt him."

            "Tao, what do you mean?"

            "I…killed…him…"

            "What?  No, Tao, no…"

            _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!_

_—to be continued—_


	2. Little Wolf

Not Hard Enough

C2: Little Wolf

[Disclaimer: Disney owns KP.  I own whatever I write/create.  Don't steal and don't sue.]

            _KRA-BOOOOOOOOOM!_

            The thunder and rain fell down upon the earth.  Ion Psymon stared out the window of her home.  Her small dog, Ein, whimpered sadly and bonked his head against Ion's leg.

            "I know, Ein." Ion murmured, "But Tao isn't coming inside."

            It had been two years since the incident.  Tao had barely moved from her stump-perch in that time.  Her hair grew shaggy and wild, and her claws grew sharper than ever before.  At the moment, she was five.

            It was only a few days before Tao's sixth birthday.  Ion slowly turned around and sat down on the floor.  She wanted to get Tao to talk to her, or at least be somewhat alive again.  It pained her heart to see her precious little girl so quiet and sad.

            There had to be a way of fixing the chasm.

----------

            "Well, 'lo there, Dr. Psymon." the young man, Sam Del, greeted Ion as she walked to the fenced area of the reservation, "You haven't been 'ere in a while."

            "I know, Sam." Ion sighed, "Have any of them had new cubs?"

            Gray wolves were inside the fence.  The two observed them for a moment.  Sam ruffled his own corn yellow hair and closed his blue eyes in thought.  He was slightly taller than Ion, his blue jeans and gray tank top giving the look of a normal rancher.

            "Oh, yeah." Sam nodded, chewing on a piece of gum, "You remember that big one named Kam-Kam?"

            "The one that likes everyone?"

            "Yeah." Sam nodded again, "She had a big litter about a week ago.  Wanna see 'em?"

            "If I may." Ion smiled at Sam warmly.

            "Ah, come on, Dr. Psymon." Sam chuckled, "You're always welcome to see the Del family wolves."

            He led her into the fenced area and whistled.

            "Hey, hey, hey!" Sam said, calling the wolves to him, "Go!  Get Kam-Kam!"

            Two or three wolves bounded away to hunt down the new mother, while the fifteen other wolves yipped at Sam and ran circles around each other.

            "You've almost domesticated them." Ion remarked, "But…"

            Sam grabbed Ion by the hand and pulled her to him.  Two wolves were fighting and would have crashed into Ion had Sam not grabbed her.  However, it caused its own problem; Ion and Sam were nose to nose.  Both of them flushed like they both were still school children.  But they almost were: both just twenty-two.

            A large wolf came slowly to Sam and nudged him with its head.

            "Kam-Kam!" Sam said gratefully, "Why don't you show us your cubs?  Come on, let's see!"  The wolf led the two humans to a small pseudo-cave where five little cubs were whining for food.  Kam-Kam lay down to let the little ones feed.

            One male in particular caught Ion's eye.  He was already crawling/walking around, and was rumbling at Ion.  She crouched down and scratched the young wolf behind the ears.

            "Have you named this one yet?" Ion asked, daring to pick the wolf up.

            "Ah, no." Sam replied, "He looks like the runt of the litter.  Kam-Kam ignores him a lot.  Don't know if he'll really live long."

            "Sam?"

            "Yeah?"

            "Could I…have him?"

----------

            A small whining noise made Tao blink for the first time in an hour.  A tiny little gray wolf cub was lying next to her on her stump.  It whined softly, pawing at Tao's leg.

            Something stirred in Tao's mind.  She picked the wolf up and put it in her lap, stroking his head.

            "Lobo." she murmured, "I'm going to call you Lobo."

            Inside the house, Ion was standing at the window again, watching Tao pet the wolf gently.  Sam stood at her side.

            "So little Tao out there had to save herself, huh?" Sam asked sadly, "I'm sorry she had to go through that.  Sorry that you had to go through it too."

            "What?" Ion asked, rather bemused.

            "Well, you got a special bond with Tao." Sam said, "She's the most unique kid I've ever seen.  And you're a unique kinda mom, too.  You two got something in common.  You need each other.  And if you had lost Tao two years ago, you'd-a gone nuts.  Seeing her in so much pain, you must have gotten some-a that pain too."

            The words hit home.  Sam stretched, groaning as something in his back popped.  He started towards the door, saying his farewells and about having to get back to the reserve.

            "Sam!" Ion turned quickly and caught Sam by the wrist.

            "Yeah?"

            Ion kissed him quickly.  Sam was taken aback for less than a second.  A grin came over him.

            "You're welcome, Ion." he said, "See you later, eh?"

            "Yes." Ion replied, "See you later, Sam."  He left, and Ion sank down on the couch with a content smile.  A moment later, Tao ran inside, Lobo chasing her with many a yip.  Tao jumped into her mother's arms, laughing again.

            "Mama, thank you!" she said, "I love him!"  Ion thought for one moment.  It was Tao's sixth birthday that day.

            "You're very welcome, Tao." Ion smiled, "Now, we need to have a party, don't we?"

            "Birthday!"

_—to be continued—_


	3. And Ahead

Not Hard Enough

C3: And Ahead…

[Disclaimer: Disney owns KP.  I own whatever I write/create.  Don't steal and don't sue.]

            Tao snorted suddenly in her sleep and woke up.  She was lying facedown in her bed, something pinning her head down and her face in the bed.

            "Solomon." Tao grumbled in a muffled tone, "Get off my head."

            Solomon, the tuxedo cat, slowly stood up and stretched, finally getting off Tao's head.  Tao propped herself up on her arms and yawned widely.  She flicked her tail a few times and stretched it out before rolling onto her back.  Tao yawned again, and then pulled her blanket over her head, curling into a ball.

            Then someone started tickling her.

            "GAAAAAAAAAAH!" the girl shouted, shooting out from under the blanket like a cat on speed.  She bounced off the wall and shot under the bed, not wanting to be tickled anymore.

            "Happy seventeenth birthday, Tao!" her mother's voice laughed.

            "Mom!" Tao protested, "I hate it when you tickle me when I'm sleeping!"

            "I know, sweetheart, but it's the best way to wake you up." Ion answered, "Besides, there's lots of birthday food for everyone…"

            "Food?"  Tao was out from under the bed at the mention of food.  Food was good.  Very good.  Too good to waste time hiding under the bed from a tickling instead of eating it.

            "You had better not—GAAAAAAAAAH!"  Ion jumped on her opportunity—and daughter—and tickled the poor little kid for all she was worth.

            "HELPHELPHELP!" Tao shouted, clawing at the floor with her fingers, making sure not to stab anything.  Ion was tickling her feet, and that was her most vulnerable spot: no kicking and slashing back.  Sooner or later, Ion stopped tickling her daughter and the party got underway.

----------

            A few hours later, everyone but Ion had fallen back asleep.  Their stomachs were full, and full stomachs always made animals sleepy; even the human with animal genes.

            The full-blood animals had gathered around Tao, the two smaller ones sleeping on the silver-haired girl.  Lobo had let himself be used for a big pillow, Tao's head resting on his stomach.

            Ion regarded her daughter lovingly from the kitchen table.  The slumbering group had settled themselves in the den, only an open door away from the kitchen.  A smile crept onto Dr. Psymon's lips as she took a small sip of coffee.

            Despite Tao's habit of falling asleep whenever she could, she had finished her 'schooling' with her mother just a few months before.  Her time was spent either playing with the pets, eating the fast food most mothers wouldn't like their children to touch, or sleeping.

            A long, yellow, hooded trenchcoat lay on the table.  It had been one of Tao's presents that year.  It would make it slightly easier for Tao to go out in public and keep her long silver tail hidden.  That, and the yellow color distracted people from looking at Tao's bare, clawed feet.

            Seventeen years had passed.  Ion barely believed it.  And after so much time, the words of her once-colleague and friend, Sean Green came back and bit at the back of her mind.

            Tao wasn't going to be able to live a normal life.  Already, there were signs of it.  No normal kid had a wolf for a pet.  No normal kid had natural silver hair.  No normal kid had a tail.  Tao wasn't a normal kid.

            The thing that pained Ion the most was that Tao would never be able to have a boyfriend.  No one to love her like she should be loved.  Ion pushed the cooling coffee away from her and stared down at the table, forlorn.  A few minutes later, she had left, leaving a note behind.

            _I'm going for a walk.  Hope you had a good birthday nap, sweetheart.  –Mom._

----------

            Winter had already descended on Middleton.  Snow was beginning to pile up on the ground, leaving a white glaze over the frozen soil.  Ion sighed and pulled her jacket tighter around her as she sat down on a bench that was placed rather nonchalantly on the sidewalk.

            "Well, as I live and get bitten by hungry wolves."

            Ion looked up at the familiar voice.  Sam Del stood before her, smiling in his funny way.

            "Hello, Ion." he greeted her, "It's been a while, huh?"

            "Yes." Ion admitted sheepishly, "I should have at least made some contact."

            "S'OK." Sam sank down on the bench next to Ion with a groan, "At least you remember me."

            "I don't think I could ever forget such a wonderful man." the words escaped her before she could stop them.  A crimson blush overcame her and she looked away nervously.

            "How's Tao doing these days?" Sam diverted the conversation away from such embarrassing matters.

            "Better." Ion was grateful for his subject change, "Today's her seventeenth birthday."

            "Whoa." Sam chuckled, "Has she gotten her license?"

            "She doesn't need one." Ion smiled a little, "She can run just as fast as a car."  The two laughed for a moment, and then fell into a content silence.

----------

            Back at home, Tao had awoken from her food-induced nap.  She spotted the note her mother had left, and then started towards her room.  Tao turned on her computer, starting to surf the web.

            In the back of her heart, she felt a deep pain that she kept trying to push back and out.  She only half-remembered what the pain came from.  The half-memory was enough to make her become very still and silent for long periods that seemed to pop up at random times.

            She shook away the rising memory and went onto one of the more interesting sites on the Net: Kim Possible's.

            The villain files were amusing to Tao.  All of them were blindingly stupid, except for Shego.  Especially Drakken.  Drakken made Tao laugh out loud.

            How interesting, she thought, it would be to meet these people.  And then laugh as Kim, Ron, and Rufus foiled their plans again.

            And Tao had no idea how soon her interesting thought would come true.

_—to be continued—_


	4. Odd Meetings

Not Hard Enough

C4: Odd Meetings

[Disclaimer: Disney owns KP.  I own whatever I write/create.  Don't steal and don't sue.]

            "Oh, come on mom!"

            "Tao…I just don't know."

            "Are you worried that Solomon or Lobo would eat it?"  Tao was trying to convince her mother to allow her to purchase a new pet: a hamster.

            "I'd suppose they would." Ion sighed, "It's what they'd eat naturally."

            "But I wouldn't let them!" Tao replied, "Come on.  I'd buy it, feed it, and anything else."

            "You've been saving your allowance, haven't you?"  Tao nodded with a grin.  "Well…since you've been arguing for at least four hours…I suppose.  But that hamster has to stay alive for three months."

            "Thankyoubye!" Tao said quickly as she ran out the door, grabbing her yellow jacket as she did.  Ion sat stunned for a moment, and then chuckled slightly.  Tao loved her pets.

----------

            "It's one in the morning, and the pet store is open." Tao remarked as she walked into the pet store in the Middleton mall, "I love this place."

            "Welcome to Pet Place." the girl behind the counter said as Tao walked up, "How may I help you?"

            "I'd like to get one of the hamsters here." Tao smiled, "It's this one over here."  She led the girl to one cage in particular where a ball of white and brown fluff was running in a wheel.

            "Oh, he's a cute one." the girl giggled a bit as she unlocked the cage and picked the hamster up, "What are you going to name him?"

            "Dario." Tao answered, "I like that name."

            "I like it too." the girl smiled, "Now, over here are our cages…"

----------

            Dario watched in fascination as Tao balanced a cheese-covered nacho on her pointer finger and thumb as though it were a quarter she was going to flip.  She chattered at the hamster for a second and it sat extremely still.  Tao flipped the nacho high in the air and it landed exactly in her mouth.  Dario chattered back, nodding his little head.

            "What's a kid doing at the mall in one in the morning?" someone asked suddenly.  Tao looked up for one second and saw someone she never expected to: Shego.  She looked back at Dario and handed him a sunflower seed.

            "I've only just convinced my mother to let me get this adorable fluff-ball of a hamster." Tao looked back up at Shego with a smile, "Why are you here?"

            "That's none of your business." Shego snapped, her cheeks tinged a very light pink.  She started to walk away.  Tao snickered silently and turned to Dario.

            "Lover's quarrel, eh, Dario?" she baited the black-haired woman to come back.  Shego stopped, tensed, and then whirled right back around.

            "Shut your mouth!" she shouted right at Tao, slamming her hands onto the table, "My personal life isn't any of your business!"

            "No," Tao smirked, glad that her bait worked, "but you seem to be shouting to the whole mall about it.  If you talk, it gets easier."  Shego was about to shout something in reply, maybe even attack, but paused.  Dario had toddled on over to her hands and started nipping at her fingers to see if she was food.  Shego laughed slightly and sank down in the chair opposite Tao.

            "Listen, I appreciate the sentiment, but I don't really want to talk about it." Shego sighed, crossing her arms, "This isn't the kind of thing you yap about."

            "Oh, that kind of lover's problem." Tao smirked again, understanding the problem and pulling a cheesy nacho from the nacho box, "Ah, idiotic prejudice, how you rule our lives.  So—Why are you staring at my hamster?"

            "He isn't trying to eat your nachos." Shego looked very confused that Dario was just sitting there and chewing on his seed.

            "Hamsters don't eat cheese." Tao's eyebrow twitched in amusement, "Anyway, who's the—"

            "But whenever I see Kim and her doofus friend, his pet is eating something." Shego unknowingly spilt the beans.  Tao was puzzled for a moment, but smiled.

            "So her name is Kim." she had a good idea of who the 'Kim' was.  Shego stared at her, and then slapped her hands to her forehead.

            "Yes." Shego sighed, shaking her head, "Kim.  Kim Possible.  There.  Happy?"

            "Yep." Tao nodded, "Why don't you just tell her?"

            "Excuse me?" Shego asked in shock, "We're enemies!  We fight, and she hates me!"  Tao took the open-mouth shock to silence Shego for one moment: she shoved a nacho into her mouth.

            "Just think for a second about your situation." Tao picked Dario up and starting petting him, "Have you ever heard one of the many old sayings about love?  Whenever you fall in love, it's either your best friend, or your worst enemy.  Now doesn't that make sense?"

            Shego chewed the nacho for a few long moments, thinking.  Tao put Dario on her shoulder and put her chin in her hand, smiling in amusement.

            "So, you going to tell her?" she asked.

            "Yeah." Shego swallowed the nacho and smiled just a bit, "Thanks, I guess."  Tao nodded with a smile, standing and grabbing the cage at her feet.  She started to walk away, putting Dario in his cage.  Before she could start running, Shego called out.

            "Hey, what's your name?"

            "I'm Tao Psymon." Tao waved over her shoulder with a smile, "Bye, miss Shego."  Then she started running.  To the human eye, she vanished.  It wasn't a normal thing to humans to see one of their own running as fast as a cheetah, so they didn't see it.

            Tao ran all the way home, rushing into her room and putting Dario's cage on a long table along one wall.  Lobo stood up from his lying position, looking up to his girl with a happy look.  Tao grinned and started doing an odd little victory dance.

            "I just met a famous criminal, Lobo!" Tao laughed in glee, "I just met Shego!  I just convinced her to go tell Kim Possible that she loves her!"

            Tao stopped abruptly.

            "Is that a good thing?" she asked her wolf.  The gray wolf cocked his head to one side, as if to say that he had no clue.

            "Think I should go see if they try to kill each other?" she asked.  Lobo straightened his head and lowered it, nodding a bit.  "If they do, should I stop them?"  Lobo nodded again.

            "OK.  I'll be back later.  Again."  And she was off.

----------

            The sounds of a battle were loud somewhere in suburban Middleton.  Tao rounded a corner and saw a huge black robot swiping at a small redheaded figure.

            Tao hoped and prayed that she wasn't the cause of Kim Possible being attacked.  A black figure tackled Kim as a laser fired from the robot: Shego.  Tao slammed her head against the wall of the house she was standing by and sent spider-web cracks up the wall.

            The robot, Kim, and Shego were having a conversation.  The robot lifted its arm and aimed at Kim.  She was in a corner with nowhere to go.

            "KIM!" everyone, including Tao, screamed.  Tao saw, as if in slow motion, Shego dart in front of Kim.  She was going to take the full force of the blow.  And she did.

            Tao's eyes widened in horror.  Shego fell back, bleeding badly, before throwing the green fire her hands held.  The robot was destroyed.  Tao turned away from the scene and started to run back home.

----------

            _SLAM!_

            Ion jerked and woke up.  It sounded like Tao was home.  She got out of bed and put on her glasses, going to greet her daughter and see what kind of hamster she had gotten.

            "Well, Tao, is he as cute as you said?" she asked in a bit of a teasing voice.  Her smile fell away when she saw Tao leaning against the door, her face full of horror and panting for breath.

            "Tao?" Ion went to her daughter, "Tao, what's wrong?"

            "I think I just killed someone." Tao said in a terrified voice, shaking madly.  Ion's eyes opened a bit more and she hugged Tao quickly.

            "Tell me what happened." she led her daughter into the kitchen to talk.

            …………

            "Oh dear." Ion murmured, rubbing the back of her neck, "That does sound bad."

            "I think Shego's dead." Tao had stopped shaking, but was holding herself tight, "I think I sent her to her death."

            "You did no such thing." Ion answered, "You just helped two people closer to each other.  It's not your fault Drakken decided to attack Kim on the same night you helped Shego."

            "OK." that seemed to calm Tao down enough to make her fear vanish, "…did you want to see the hamster?"

            "Oh, yes." Ion smiled, "Let's see him."  Tao went and got the cage, taking Dario out of its confines.

            "By the way, sweetheart." Ion said as she stroked the hamster's head, "Why don't you see if Shego is actually gone before being so worried?  I'll bet she's all right, and I think you should keep helping her to get Kim."

            "How?" Tao asked.

----------

            Tao stood just around the corner of the hospital waiting room, listening closely to what Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable said.  There was silence as Kim cried for a while, and then Kim's mother said that Shego was stable.

            Tao hurried off just as Kim did.

----------

            The last bit of night was devoted to a fast nap.  The part of the day before noon was spent picking out something to give to Shego when she woke up.

            Tao knocked at the door of the hospital room, a bouquet of roses in one arm and Dario on one shoulder.  Someone called the OK and Tao walked in.

            For the first time in her life, Tao saw Kim Possible up close and for real.  Kim stood from Shego's bedside and walked over to her slowly.

            "Hello." Tao smiled, "You must be Kim Possible.  These are for miss Shego."  She gave the roses to Kim.  Kim gave her a bit of a scrutinizing look, as if wondering if Shego already had a person in her life.  Tao noted that the roses were still a good idea, even if Kim already loved Shego back.

            "Don't worry." she smiled more, "I'm just a friend.  Bye."  She was out the door running before anything else could happen.

            Tao leapt over the fence that surrounded the hospital from behind and rolled in the snow for a moment.  She stared up at the clear blue sky.  Dario chattered and crawled out of his pocket-spot and onto Tao's stomach.  Tao laughed a little bit.

            At that single moment, everything was just right.  For that moment.

_—end—_


End file.
